8/24-8/30

Hello, hello! 

Well--- Here it goes!

Monday-- We played volleyball as a zone and it was really fun! It felt SO good to get out there again and play a real game! It was awesome. :)

Sister Nowak fed us dinner that night, she's such a sweetheart we love her! We didn't have pie, but we did have giant empanadas though! Delicious! Haha!

We had a lesson that night with the Mayfield's and Mary Martin, a girl in the ward that just graduated from high school came out with us and it was so great! We taught the Restoration again and it was really good. They had good questions!

Tuesday-- Sister Long wasn't feeling good at all, so we ended up going to the Urgent Care. Germs everywhere! hahaha I was just content reading my little Conference edition of the Ensign. I got some great studies in while waiting! Poor Sister Long had sinus stuff going on and didn't feel good at all. We got her medicine and we were able to go out that day. What a champion!

We didn't have much success that day, lots of people weren't home and I remember saying a specific prayer to find someone to teach. We went and talked to this kid named Zack that we met and he was definitely not budging on his atheist beliefs. It was disheartening. He was like, "Wow I'm so sorry, you guys look so disappointed!" I told him, that obviously we are sad, because we know what we are teaching is true, that there is a God who loves him and knows him, and that Jesus Christ suffered and died for him and he doesn't give it enough time and thought to find out for himself. We continued down the street after that, and we had a few minutes left so we decided to go to one more door...

So, remember last week when I told you about the Atheist Native American descendant guy? Well we decided to knock on his door again to follow up and we met his fiance, Clarissa! She is awesome! And so open! We taught her the Restoration on the doorstep, gave her a Book of Mormon and invited her to be baptized and committed her to a date in October! She said we could come back on Thursday, success! After we were walking away, we realized that we didn't pray with her! So we embraced the awkwardness and knocked on her door again and told her we are awful missionaries for forgetting to pray with her and asked if we could say a prayer with her. She was laughing with us and I think she likes us hahaha! :) PRAYER ANSWERED! We were totally guided to go back to that door and we found a new investigator!

Wednesday-- We did service for Sister Watson (the Elder's Quorum President's wife) because she has two young kids and just had twins! We helped deep clean her kitchen and dusted. It was fun! It was a really good time to get to know her and her family. :) 

We had a meeting that night with Brother Bey, our Ward Mission Leader, and it went so well! We remade our Ward Mission Plan and it is so awesome! We are super stoked about the new goals! He's such a great WML!

Thursday-- WAS SUCH A GOOD DAY. MIRACLES ALL AROUND!

We had a lesson with Tim that morning and Brother Burdick came and it was just perfect. We were planning to teach the Plan of Salvation, but it took a turn of events and we talked more about the organization of the church! It was exactly what he needed. 

After that we were able to bust out planning in 3 hours flat! It was a record breaking moment in my missionary career haha, planning always takes forever! So that was a miracle in itself.

Then, we went to Sholanda's! She works at the Senior Center, where we do service every Friday. It was super distracting in the lesson because of babies, TV and phone calls happening BUT we would NOT leave until we accomplished what we set out to do! We watched the Restoration video, and during it, Sholanda had an epiphany. She said she has been praying for guidance to know what church to join (she's been to a few different ones in the recent future) and you two keep showing up! :) We talked a lot about studying the scriptures and praying to find our answers. We committed her to being baptized on November 14th! She is really searching and we are hoping to get the rest of the family on board too! :)

Friday-- We had dinner at the Taylor's! It was so fun! They are the best and we were so stoked for them, because Cody was getting baptized the next day! Yayyyy!

Saturday-- We got transfer calls and we are both staying! Woot woot! :)

We are both SO happy we are staying. Things are just starting to get really good! ;)

We did the missionary moment at Cody's baptism that night and it was such an amazing spiritual experience. So many people came out for it, to support him and Brooke and it was so exciting to see him be baptized! :) 

Sunday-- Church was awesome, Cody was confirmed, the spirit was so strong, and we had an amazing lesson for the last hour of church! Someone from another ward came in and talked about how they do Tuesday night splits to go out and minister to the ward members. They can account for EVERY member in their ward and they have seen so many miracles come from it! I'll have to send a little outline home if you guys want to know more. It was awesome, and this ward is going to FLOURISH with this new push for ministering.

Sister Burdick came out with us that night and we were able to get into one of our potential investigator's home! She connected so well with them and the husband actually is a less active member not on the records! So we are excited to see where this all goes. :)

Lots of great things are happening and I am excited to be staying another transfer. I've come to love these people like my family and I can't wait to work hard and see miracles every day for the next month and a half!

I hit my 14 month mark this week... Can you believe it's been that long already? I'm so determined to make these next four months the best yet. I love being a missionary. I love serving my Savior and my Heavenly Father. I love telling people about this gospel and seeing it change their lives. I love the scriptures. I love teaching from the Book of Mormon. It's the most powerful book we can read in our lives. It will change us, if we let it, and if we study from it consistently EVERY day. :)

A quick spiritual thought we had this week--->

In Preach My Gospel it teaches us how to Effectively Study the Scriptures. It says, "Effective daily study must always begin with prayer. Study is an act of faith requiring the use of personal agency." (pg 17-18) Before Joseph Smith received his answer, of God and Jesus Christ appearing to him and calling him to be the prophet of the Restoration, he studied and prayed in faith (Joseph Smith History 1:11-13). If he hadn't used his agency to have an effective study of the scriptures that day and live the teachings he learned, how different would all of our lives be? The impact we can have on the world, is determined by the spirit we obtain from our personal scripture study and prayers! Now go change the world! :)

Love and miss you all!

Hope you have an awesome week.

Love,

Sister Loar

xoxo

Alex Van Halder sent me this cute postcard in the mail! I miss Boise! :)

The Nelsons in the ward have a bunch of legit SWORDS! So awesome! :) hahaha

We were accidentally coordinating with Mary haha so obvi we had to take a picture!

Our friends' friends met Sister Loar at Church on Sunday and sent us this picture!!!!!

8/17-8/23

Welcome to Bakersfield!

Oh hello! It's been a great week of ups and downs.

Monday-- We had a nerf war for a P-day activity with the other missionaries! It was a blast for sure. :)

We had a Family Home Evening lesson with Sister Nowak at her house and talked about the Sabbath Day and it was really good. She always feeds us SO MUCH PIE. I will be made of pie by the time I get home folks. You are what you eat, right? ;)

Tuesday-- We have started setting time aside to do what we call, "Surprise Service" for people in the ward or our investigators! We stopped by a lady named Jasmine,that the sisters taught a little bit ago to help her with whatever she needed and I think she liked it! :) 

We went on exchanges with Sister Cashin and Sister Fifita and had a great time! I was with Sister Cashin, and we had some really awesome experiences. It was cool to see the hand of the Lord guiding us in all that we were doing. We talked to SO many people and it was just super awesome! We found a kid named Diego who was pretty awesome and seemed pretty interested. We gave him a Book of Mormon and taught the Restoration lesson and then said a prayer with him.

That night we had fifteen minutes until we had to meet at the church for splits with the ward members, so we knocked on one more door and the man we talked to ended up being an atheist. In my head, I was like, "alright, here we go." But this man was WAY nice. He said he is still really open to learning about different religions because that is a huge factor in what makes people tick the way they do. So he asked us what the difference between Christian and Mormon was, and so we taught him about the Restoration and when we started talking about the Book of Mormon, he piped up and said that he had heard the story of the family leaving Jerusalem and coming to America. He then began to mention things about Lamanites and Nephites (he didn't quite get those names exactly right, but it was close haha). So um hello! I was so freaking out because he knew about these things, so we asked him how he came to know all of that and he said that he has American Indian descendants and when he was looking up his ancestors and history about them he came across the record of the Book of Mormon because those people are among the descendants of the American Indians! It was so rad. He mentioned how his grandpa had just passed away and that the funeral was all about the Great Spirit and that Jesus Christ was a huge part of their beliefs and culture, and so I just continued to become more and more excited. (This man probably thought I was crazy, but what's new out here haha) because just that morning I had studied in Alma 18 about the missionary Ammon teaching King Lamoni and how Lamoni believed in a Great Spirit and Ammon told him that was what they believe is God.. it was just perfect. Long story short, he made the connection that he, a Lamanite descendant was being taught by missionaries about this and it was the exact same thing that happened in the Book of Mormon! A-Ha! :) So he didn't say he wanted to learn more, but we left him with a Book of Mormon and a Family History card that could help him research his family. Such a cool experience! Just think, if we didn't knock on that last door, we wouldn't have found him! I love how Heavenly Father just urges us enough to give us the choice to follow His Spirit and what it is telling us to do. We just have to be listening close enough to recognize it and have the faith to follow it.

Wednesday-- We did some service for the Hunter's Neighbor again and then the Hunter's fed us some bomb spaghetti for lunch and some watermelon. I just love the Hunters :) They crack me up!

Lunch with the Hunters!

Thursday-Friday-- All of our appointments fell through and no on was answering their doors. It was the weirdest thing, and pretty disappointing, but it's okay! We went to dinner at the Bey's (also some of my favorites... okay everyone are my favorites here. I just love this ward.) A sister missionary, Sister Stringham, was back visiting the area with her friend who was actually a less active member (little did we know though!) and they joined us for all of our dinner appointments this weekend. It was so fun seeing them everyday and getting to know them. They are both from Utah, so it'll be fun to catch up with them after I'm back in Provo!

That night we stopped in at the Mayfield's and we got to talk to them and SAM! Finally!!!! We haven't had a lesson with her for a month! It was an awesome visit and we established that they will have to make and keep commitments and come to church! and they agreed! So we are seeing them Monday, Wednesday, and Friday nights now! Yayyyy! Sam still wants to be baptized, so that's a relief, she's just been busy I guess.

Saturday-- We stopped by a less actives home and he wasn't interested in comin back to church, but we left him with a Book of Mormon adn shared some powerful scriptures in it! He showed us around his MANSION! It was so legit! It's so pretty!

We stopped by Diego's and he told us he wasn't interested... so that was sad.

But we then went to Tracy's! I just love Tracy. She is my home girl. I just want to take her home to Idaho with me. So she is like 27ish and has two kids, one is with his dad and the other is a baby. The baby's daddy ditched out on her, so she is struggling hard core. She drinks, she smokes, but she is willing to still meet with us and be baptized in October. She said she wanted to watch Meet the Mormons with us on Sunday, but when we went by she was busy... sad day. So we are hoping for tonight! :) 

Sunday-- Church was awesome as always. I just really needed what they talked about this week. It was definitely the spiritual recharge I was looking for!

After church, Sister Burdick (hilarious Panamanian woman) came out with us to visit her neighbor that has cancer, he said we could come back! We stopped by the Mahan's with her and she ended up knowing the relatives that were visiting them! So it was an awesome connection and I just laughed the whole time because she is hilarious.

Then we had dinner at Sister Smith's and I guess she knows the Knapp's that live in Nampa??? She showed me a picture of her and her family and she was Mrs. Idaho one year and I'm pretty sure her son Mason goes to Columbia?? Anyways really small world! 

After that we took the sisters.. I mean Sister Stringham and her friend out with us to go contact some potential investigators and it was AWESOME. Our first contact didn't go so well, so I was kind of nervous about how the rest of the time with them would go. I wanted so badly for it to be a good experience! So then we stopped by Everly and Tony's and they have the cutest family and we sang them Teach Me to Walk in the Light and then we asked them if it would be important to have a prophet on the earth today, and Tony thought about it and said he thinks it would be a really good idea! We taught the Restoration lesson to them. They said they would read the Book of Mormon and pray about it! The spirit was soooo strong and afterwards, Amber, Sister Stringham's friend was like, "That was so awesome! I want to be a missionary!" (but she can't cause she is now married as of a month ago) but she also expressed how she didn't grow up being active in the church so she never was taught everything we taught Everly and Tony. She was like I'm going to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it now. It was such a spiritual and memorable experience and I know Heavenly Father had it happen the way it did, for a reason.

It was such an up and down week, but what week isn't? I just love seeing the Lord's plan pan out in front of our eyes! It's the coolest (cool is an understatement) experience being out here and being an instrument in God's hands.

I love this gospel more than anything!

Hoorah for Israel!

Love you all!

Love,

Sister Loar

xoxo

the pictures-- today in the car! And a couple weeks ago with the Snow ward sisters!

Sister Perrin has family that are actually from Glenn's Ferry Mom! She is related to the Whootan's? haha I'm not sure how to spell it! It sounded REALLY familiar though. :)

Love ya!

The airport is in our area!

.......and some people gave us these huge cups of water!!!  They were really nice!!!!!

We were in great need of a McDonald's ice cream cone.

Exchanges!!!!

The Worthen's, some members have this legit E.T. thing in their house! It's one of the originals from the movie! They knew the secretary of the company that made the movie! so legit!!! Hahaha!!

Found this little guy hanging in a palm tree :) hahaha........it's a dead rat!!!!

8/10-8/16

Hey, hey! Hope everyone had a great week! :)

This week was good!

Monday-- We met Teagyn and Julie at a member's home in their new ward they are going to and the sister missionaries from that area came too. We had an AWESOME lesson. The spirit was so strong and it was amazing to see how Heavenly Father's hand is truly in everything we do and He directs this work! We asked Julie what change she has seen in Teagyn since she has been going to church and been baptized.Julie explained how she sees that Teagyn has gained self-confidence and self worth and has self pride that wasn't there before. She also told us how she has been church hopping, or going to lots of different churches, trying to find something and she hadn't found it. She said that she feels what she is looking for is in this church! She also said she felt like she has been spinning and spinning her wheels and she's not going any where. The other sisters and us taught the Restoration and invited her to be baptized and Julie accepted without hesitating! :) Their lives are about to change!!! They already have! :) It was bittersweet to leave there, knowing we wouldn't be the missionaries teaching Julie and Teagyn anymore, but it was such a blessing and tender mercy to see it all play out, how God intended it to. :)

Tuesday-- We had interviews with President Wilson and boy do I love my mission president! He is such an inspired man. He helped me with exactly what I needed! He answered some of my prayers about what to study in school and how to become a better missionary. It was so great to talk to him and Sister Wilson. She is always so happy and excited to hear any great news! I just love her. :)

We had exchanges with Sister Perrin and Sister Staples and it went really well! I went with Sister Perrin and we were able to have a great exchange! We met lots of people and were able to talk to them and sing some of them primary songs! It was fun! This is Sister Perrin's first transfer and it reminded me of what I was like when I first came out. It made me realize just how much I've really grown, changed and learned! :) We stopped by Tracy's (someone we had met a couple of weeks ago and haven't been able to contact) and she talked to us at her door for a little bit! She was struggling a lot and I just wanted to offer to clean or do something for her, but we've already tried the angle of service to try to teach her and it didn't really go anywhere because she hasn't let us do service for her! So, me, trying to find a way to help her, the words came to my mind, "just teach her the gospel!" Haha so I asked if we could share a message with her and she let us right in and we were able to talk to her about our purpose, and how we help other's come unto Christ by being baptized. She expressed the same feelings that Julie had expressed the day before, so I told her the story of Teagyn getting baptized and about Julie and her heart was really softened! We asked her if she would want to be baptized and she said yes! :) We set a date in October and she is willing to work towards it! We weren't able to get a hold of her or see her for the rest of the week, so I'll let you know how that goes!

Wednesday-- We did some service for the Hunters (an older couple in the ward) and it was really fun! We chopped some bushes and branches and cleaned it all up! We raked some leaves for their neighbor while we were at it, and it was good. We are hoping to see if their neighbor would be interested to learn more this week! 

Thursday-- We contacted a family in the ward, the Mahan's, and the dad isn't a member of the church! We had an AWESOME visit with them and it was so fun to get to know them. They have a 17 year old daughter and a 14 year old son! I felt like I was at home!!!! It made me miss Maddie and Mason so much! We talked about the Vision of the Tree of Life and how the fruit of the tree represents the love of God. (1 Nephi 11:21-22) We learn in John 3:16 that the love of God is His son Jesus Christ. So when Lehi explains about his experience-- "And as I partook of the fruit thereof it filled my soul with exceedingly great joy; wherefore, I began to be desirous that my family should partake of it also; for I knew that i was desirable above all other fruit." We can understand that the Atonement of Jesus Christ can make us feel full and it can fill our lives with the joy we all yearn for. Before my mission I was doing all the right things, but just kind of going through the motions, and I was trying to fill my soul with the things of the world, but I wasn't aware of it. After truly turning to my Savior and trying to follow His guidance while being on my mission, I have felt full. It's the most rewarding sense of joy and peace in my life that I've experienced and I intend to keep that in my life no matter what circumstances come my way. How comforting it is to know that we CAN have that full feeling and that sense of joy in our lives ALWAYS, if we turn to our Savior with all we experience and trust in Heavenly Father's timing in our lives.

Friday-- We found a cute family! But they were going out of town right that second, so we didn't get a chance to teach them anything, but we sang them some primary songs at the door and the kids loved them! The little boy was obsessed with us and it was the best thing ever. Haha then we sang at another door and after we sang "I am a Child of God" to this girl that was outside, she said, "Hey! I know that song!" And then her dad came outside and they ended up being members of the church! They said they haven't been for a while, and so we are going to try back sometime soon! :)

Saturday--We had dinner at Brooke Taylor's house (a newly wed couple in the ward, and her husband is getting baptized in a few weeks!!! :)) for dinner and Cody, her hubby wasn't home because he went hunting for the week. It was so fun getting to know her! She's like my new bestie. She's so adorable and get this, she is 21! haha It's super weird meeting people my same age out here, and they are already married and such! But it's so fun and I just love her. Her dad is a less active member and he came over for dinner too, so that was an awesome opportunity to get to know him as well!

Sunday-- Church went well! The Mahan's (minus their dad) came to church! They haven't been for a while so it was fun seeing them again! :) We went to a BBQ at the Haney's and the Mayfield's came! It was a good time and we shared some scriptures and a mormon message about the Atonement with them. It's called Reclaimed and I'm so grateful we watched that with them, it's exactly what I needed! :)

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2012-08-008-reclaimed?lang=eng

This is the true church of Jesus Christ! No where else can you find what we are all searching for in this life. This is where God can grant us all the blessings he intends to give us and where we can truly find joy and peace.

Love,

Sister Loar

xoxo

Exchanges 

We found the oil fields everyone always talks about! It was nuts! The pictures don't do it justice with how many rigs are out here! That is why they call it Oildale I guess...

Our District!

Us with crazy Zeek while Sister Nowak made us some pie!

Mini exchanges with Sister Nemrow and Sister Larsen and more oil fields!

8/3-8/9

Hi friends! :)

This week was full of stress, frustration, tests of patience, disappointments, miracles and tender mercies.

I've been contemplating for the last few hours of what to write in this email. As much as I try, I know I won't be able to adequately put everything into words. I want so badly to be able to explain it all to all of you, so you can feel exactly what I've felt and experienced, but I know its not possible. I've decided that coming on a mission has been the best thing I've ever decided to do, and it breaks my heart that I won't ever be able to give you all the knowledge and experiences that I've had. I just want to take all of my memories and put it into a pensive so you can all see what I've seen! (Harry Potter reference.. haha had to!) 

To recap a little bit from what happened-- 

On Wednesday we had our MLC meeting and it went really well! We had to sing "Families Can be Together Forever" in front of everyone, and it turned out well! The Spirit definitely makes people's voices sound so much better than what they really sound like. 

 MLC with my besties!

Sister Kurtz just told me she is going to BYU PROVO when we get home! :) yayyy best friends!

On Friday we had to do a training with the Zone Leaders for our ZTM and it went well. We committed 20 elders (we are the only sisters in our zone) to singing primary songs to people they contact in the next few weeks! Hahaha they weren't thrilled about it, but I know they will see miracles when they try! :)

We had been teaching Teagyn everyday this last week and we went by on Friday to go teach her the last lesson before her baptism Saturday. She wasn't at her grandma's for our appointment, she was out with her mom that day. No one had heard from her, so we were starting to get a little nervous. Long story short, we got a hold of them after receiving a voicemail from her mom explaining that there was some housing decisions that needed to be made and that Teagyn would now be living with her mom, on the other side of Bakersfield.. in another ward, and that she wouldn't be able to be baptized the next day. {COMMENCE INTERNAL FREAK OUT}

We tried to get a hold of Teagyn and we didn't hear from her until late that night. We finally got it all figured out with our mission president and Teagyn's mom that Teagyn could still get baptized in our ward, Saturday, and then switch over to the new ward next week. PHEW! That was a miracle! 

Saturday was the most stressful day, but I was able to remain so calm, it was definitely the Lord helping me out with that one. We had to make a bajillion phone calls to the people in Teagyn's new ward to have them come to the baptism so it would be a smooth transition. We did our best and were just hoping that people would come since it was so last minute. We also had exchanges that day with the sisters serving in my old area-- Sister Shaw and Sister Nielson. Sister Shaw found and started teaching Teagyn when she was here last transfer, so we made it so she would be able to come to the baptism and do the missionary moment. Topping off the stress level was when we found out no one had made treats, hahaha so we got some Little Debbie's Oatmeal Creme Pies and unwrapped them and put them on plates. (Classy, I know. :) ) After helping Teagyn get ready we herded the tribe, Sister Nowak (Teagyn's grammy), Zeek (the little brother), and Teagyn into Sister Smith's car and she drove them to the baptism!

The baptism was amazing! The spirit was so strong! Teagyn's mom, Julie, was able to come! (I just looooove Julie, she is the BEST.) There was about 12 people who came to support Teagyn from her new ward! Miracles! Teagyn went through the door to go into the baptismal font and she was taking a little while, so Sister Long and I jumped back there to see if she needed help with something and we were able to stand right next to the font on the steps and watch her and see her face as she came up out of the water. It was the most precious moment and I am so happy she took a little bit longer so we were able to stand where we were! :) One of the young women in the ward braided Teagyn's hair in the dressing room before she came out. We sat with her and it was so good to see her SO happy and so giddy with joy. :) After the baptism she was confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ and received the gift of the Holy Ghost. She seriously just GLOWED afterwards!!! :) Happiest day of my life. It was such a relief to see Teagyn baptized and confirmed. Everything was worth it. Earlier that week there were lots of things that had happened that made it a really rocky road for Teagyn, and that one hour was worth all of the tears, prayers, and struggles we had leading up to it. After the baptism President Wilson came up to us and congratulated us. It was the most rewarding thing! It makes me have a stronger desire to always do my best in this life, so that when the time comes to meet my Father in Heaven, He will be able to say, 'Well done thou good and faithful servant'.

The Baptism!!!  :)

 Teagyn!

Sunday, Teagyn asked us to walk with her to church for her last time in our ward. While sitting with her during Sacrament Meeting, I found myself start to cry. I was overwhelmed with a feeling of love for Teagyn and a gratitude in my heart. I'm so grateful to my Heavenly Father for making it possible for me to be a part of Teagyn's life and for the chance I had to teach her and meet her family.

Teagyn and Zeek and Sister Long and I on Sunday!

The things that happened this week taught me more than I would have imagined. There was so much opposition to stop Teagyn from being baptized. I've never wanted to take someone's place more in my life. I just wanted to switch places with Teagyn, so she didn't have to face all of the things she had to. This week, my testimony of our Savior and His Atonement have been strengthened. As missionaries, we are called to be Jesus Christ's instruments-- His hands, and by following the Spirit in all we do, we are able to be where He needs us to be and do what He would have us do. We followed the spirit to know how to help Teagyn and we were able to be there for her, to cry with her, to comfort her, to rejoice with her, to teach her how to stay strong, to help her keep the faith, to help her feel the spirit. I didn't think I had enough room in my heart to love someone so much as I love Teagyn! The timing for everything is working out perfectly. Since Teagyn is moving in with her mom, and she is going to a new ward, her mom has agreed to meet with the missionaries over there to see what Teagyn has been learning about. She's also agreed to take her to all of the activities and to church. :) Also the sisters that will be teaching her are in our stewardship as Sister Training Leaders and we are going to be doing a transition lesson tonight with them and Julie and Teagyn! :) PLEASE PRAY IT GOES WELL! 

Welp, once again, this is a lengthy one. Just know that I wish so badly all of you could be here with me and love Teagyn as much as I love her!

This week in my Book of Mormon reading I came across a verse that I needed and I felt sums up the week. It's talking about Alma, when he was being a missionary and trying to help others come unto Christ. He faced a lot of adversity at this time in his journey-->

"Nevertheless, Alma labored much in the spirit, wrestling with God in mighty prayer, that he would pour out his Spirit upon the people who were in the city; that he would also grant that he might baptized them unto repentance."

I felt like I was wrestling with God in mighty prayer, and I'm so glad I did, because the happiness and peace we experienced afterwards was so worth it. 

It's always darkest before the dawn!

I love and miss you all!

Thank you for all of the love and support!

I love being a missionary.

Love,

Sister Loar

xoxo

 

 They were having a clothing exchange at the Stake Center and someone showed me these and said I could have them! They were freeee!  The thug life chooses me, I didn't even go looking for it mom! ;)

 The sisters on exchanges!

7/27-8/2

Hey, hey everyone! :)

Hope you all had an awesome week! 

Monday-- We had dinner at the Haney's and they have a couple children who are grown that are also in the ward and they came too! One of the son's girlfriend's is not a member and we taught the Restoration lesson to her and it went really well! She seemed super interested, but she is super busy with school and work, so we aren't sure when we would be able to teach her again. She didn't seem to committed to anything yet, so we shall see!

Tuesday-- We went on exchanges with Sister Nemrow and Sister Larsen! They are such sweet sisters and I love them dearly! I went with Sister Nemrow and we taught a lesson to Teagyn at the church with 2 young women and it was great! Teagyn is doing so awesome. We met with her everyday this week to get her prepared for her baptismal interview this weekend and her baptism on the 8th!

Love love love Sister Nemrow!!

That night we went to the church to meet up with everyone to go on splits with the ward members and visit some people, but not enough sisters came out so Sister Nemrow and I just went and contacted some families that they needed us to see! We didn't have much success at the first home, but we were able to sit down and visit with the next one we went to. A quick background snippet to fill in some gaps--- Brother Haney served his mission here when he was younger, and ended up moving to Bakersfield after he went home! He taught and baptized, a now less active family in the ward, the Mayfields.--- So we went and knocked on the Mayfields door and they were SO nice! They invited us in and apparently the elders were starting to teach them the lessons again to help them come back to church and refresh on everything! They just loved us! We got to know Brother Mayfield and then he called in his 18 year old granddaughter that is about to move in with them. Her name is Samantha and she is so awesome! We immediately connected with her and she was sharing some awesome experiences she has recently had in her life that have built her faith in Christ! She isn't a member of our church, but she told us that when she was younger, probably 10 years ago, the missionaries taught her and she wanted to be baptized. Her mom had told her she couldn't so she never really tried again after that. We asked her if she wanted to be baptized now that she is older and she said YES! :) We taught her the restoration and Brother Mayfield bore his testimony about how he knows the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith translated it by the power of God. It was such a good lesson, the spirit was so strong and we were so happy afterwards. I totally did a happy dance when we got to the car. :) Samantha is so prepared! Also super cool part of this is that Brother Haney offered to pay for her college tuition if she went to BYU-Idaho! She's decided to go there and is super pumped about it! :)

Wednesday-- We went out with Sister Shimmins and nothing was working out. After not know who else to contact, she said, "why don't we go meet my friends down the street?" So we totally met her friends and taught them the restoration! They weren't interested at all but it was the coolest experience to have a member invite us to go see their friends! She has known them for 15 years or so and has a really good relationship with them. Even though they weren't interested, they were so kind and appreciative of us coming by. It was amazing to see her exercise her faith and give her friends the opportunity to learn!

That evening we had a lesson for Teagyn at the Martin's home. We talked about the Sabbath Day and watched some Mormon Messages, because that is what our family would do on Sundays. :) The spirit was so strong and some of the Martin's are converts as well, so they were able to share their experiences with Teagyn! It was amazing! :) 

Thursday-- We had dinner with Teagyn and her grandma, Sister Nowak! Teagyn had decorated a table and made it super special. She is the sweetest girl ever. :) Then that night we had a lesson with the Perry's! They are a less active older couple in the ward, and Sister Perry has been reading the Book of Mormon again as of late. She is progressing really well! We had a really spiritual lesson with them and watched a Mormon Message from the prophet, Thomas S. Monson, about daring to stand alone, to stand up for what we believe in. :) It was perfect and they said that it was exactly what they needed!

Dinner at the Nowak's!

Friday--We had a District Meeting with the other missionaries and we all committed to, "keep our line in the water" until 9 pm every night and record the miracles we see! To explain this here is a snippet from Preach My Gospel--- 

"'None of us should be like the fisherman who thinks he has been fishing all day when in reality he has spent most of his time getting to and from the water, eating lunch, and fussing with his equipment. Fishing success is related to how long you have your line in the water, not to how long you are away from the apartment. Some fishermen are away from home for twelve hours and have their line in the water for ten hours. Other fishermen are away from the home for twelve hours and have their line in the water for only two hours. This last type may wonder why they do not have the same success as others. The same principle applies to missionaries, whom the Master called 'fishers of men.' A missionary's line, should drop into the fishing water the moment he or she leaves the apartment.' (Dallin H. Oaks,)"

We had a shorter exchange in some sisters' area that night and tried to help them find some new investigators! It was good. I went with Sister Fifita from Tonga. Love her! :)

Saturday-- 

We got a call from the Mission President's wife, Sister Wilson that morning telling us that she needed us to role play at Mission Leadership Council this upcoming Wednesday in front of everyone a new, creative way to contact people at the door... We are going to have to sing a primary song, Families can be Together Forever, in front of everyone! and connect it to doing family history! And so my initial reaction was not so enthusiastic.. BUT we decided we should probably practice doing this in real life before we demonstrate it. 

That night, it was 8:45 pm and our plans had not worked out and we weren't sure where to go next. We were trying our best to "keep our line in the water", so we decided to walk to the mailboxes at the end of the street and see if we could catch people walking to get their mail. We saw a lady walking with her baby stroller and said hi to her and shared a brief summary about prophets and the restoration, but she wasn't looking interested at all. So, Sister Long asked her if we could sing her a song about our beliefs! She said sure, and we began singing I am a Child of God and the lady's countenance changed and you could tell her heart was softened. She didn't invite us over to learn more or anything like that, but I hope we made her night a little better and a little brighter than it was! We were able to see a blessing from keeping our commitment to working hard and also using Sister Wilson's idea! :)

Sunday-- Church was great! Sister Perry came!!! :) Happy day! We walked with Teagyn and it was a good time with her. She ended up having her baptismal interview afterwards and she passed! She is so excited to get baptized! :)

Samantha Mayfield didn't end up going, so we stopped by that evening and we were able to talk to her briefly and set up a time for us to help her move her things into her grandparents house this week! She is really excited to learn more and I'm excited for the opportunity teach her!

The Lord truly blesses us when we humble ourselves and follow His commandments and guidance! I love this work and I love being a missionary.

Love you all so much!

Hope you have a good one! 

Love,

Sister Loar

xoxo 

Sister Long wanted grilled cheese before bed.

 We do service at the Senior Center every week!  It's Great!!

We are actually going to be teaching one of the lunch ladies there!! :)

 Sister Long and Sister Loar